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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steampunkette" data-source="post: 9583012" data-attributes="member: 6796468">Do I play monsters to win? Depends on the goal of the monsters more than anything else.If the goal is to kill the party, I do not play the monsters to win. I play the monsters to make their best choices for their own continued survival -or- their best chances to hit as hard as possible, and act like it's a sliding scale with a Zero Sum game.That means the kobold who deeply hates the party will do everything up to and including sacrificing his own life in a blaze of murderous glory to deal as much harm as possible to the party, throwing caution to the wind. You will almost never fight in a situation where most of the enemy group is like this at my tables. When you do, it's a sincere threat of a TPK.But it also means that if they're more interested in surviving the fight they'll take cover out of the gate and let players escape if it means not getting killed, themselves. Sometimes you'll fight in situations where most of the enemy group is like this. It's entirely possible for the party to "win" this fight by walking past/walking away. However if you play incredibly foolishly and stay beyond a reasonable point, this can result in a TPK. (Especially if 1 or 2 party members drop. Then the baddies will be emboldened by their success and start coming out of cover)The BBEG and their most loyal lieutenants will be in the middle of that sliding scale and try to balance their own survival against killing the party. The Lieutenants can be cowed or baited into falling into one of the other two categories, though, of course. And if they're not, this is the most dangerous fight to be in.But. In the BBEG/LT fight, you're liable to survive because most of my villains are VILLAINS rather than just killers. So expect to wake up tied to the death ray for a monologue you mostly ignore as you try to break your bindings and escape. Or in the Rancor Pit for the entertainment of the BBEG's minions as you fight their "Favorite Pet". Or you'll be "Allowed" to witness the villain's triumph in some way that gives you one last chance, weakened and weary, to struggle against the dying of the light and be the heroes you're meant to be.If the goal is to Break, Steal, or Kill the MacGuffin, then yes I will play to win. Enemies will fight tactically based on what they're aware of in order to achieve their goal. And once they achieve it will try to survive the situation up to and including fleeing. If the MacGuffin is portable, this can and has turned into a game of football with long passes to open receivers to get the MacGuffin away from the party.(I have run, and enjoy, games where one of the party members -is- the MacGuffin that needs to be strapped to an altar under the red moon for a sacrifice when the stars are aligned)Honestly... the way to get a TPK in my games where you -just- get TPKd and there's no chance for survival is when you're badly prepared for a random encounter with, like, bandits or something, and you really piss them off during the fight to the point they start stabbing downed PCs... and then you stay and fight to the last instead of giving them what they want and running away.</blockquote>

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